29 and taking the HT plunge!

[TheBig30]

Hello everyone!

Finally decided to declare my lurky self and say Hi. A bit about me: I'm 28, about to turn 29 and have been dealing with my hair loss for about 4 years now. It started with a photograph on Facebook where I realized, sh!t, my hairline is definitely starting to recede. Well it has certainly got worse since then and my hair has thinned in it's quantity, but also the hair strands are very thin now too.

I'm NW 3A (maybe 3V) but my thinning has really just been to the hairline with diffuse thinning all over, but no bald spot yet in the crown. I'll add a few pics below which I sent to my Dr for the consultation on the HT.

Well I've decided to get a HT this summer. I'm 95% booked with a surgeon who has rave reviews on here over the last few years and I'm excited / nervous about that. I'll let y'all know who the surgeon is once I'm 100% booked this week as I plan to do a full write up of the experience as so many have you have done. Thank you all for your input as I've done SOOOO much research over the last 4 years, and the discussions on here have helped enormously.

My regime so far is Regain 5% twice a day and Nizorol about once every 2 weeks (don't like the sensation Nizorol gives my scalp so don't use it regularly). I'm considering Propecia but to be honest am just worried I'll be one of the people who get sever side effects. Thoughts on that??

Yours in Baldness,
TheBig30 ( PS the name is really related to my desire to have had the HT and 10 months growth for my 30th Birthday in 2015! )

Pics (sorry, they're rotated 90% )

[Notcoolanymore]

At NW3(at worst), a transplant will make a big difference. You are going to look good, but for how long? Without propecia you will continue to lose hair. I understand the fear of sides and all, but I think finasteride is a must if you are getting a transplant. You are going to get the receding area filled in new hair. How are you going to look as you continue to recede?

My recession started similarly to yours. If I would have gotten a transplant to fill in my temples, withing a few years I would have receded more and have two horns of hair on my head.

Propecia sucks, I know, but I would strongly consider it before getting a transplant.

[win200]

At NW3(at worst), a transplant will make a big difference. You are going to look good, but for how long? Without propecia you will continue to lose hair. I understand the fear of sides and all, but I think finasteride is a must if you are getting a transplant. You are going to get the receding area filled in new hair. How are you going to look as you continue to recede?

My recession started similarly to yours. If I would have gotten a transplant to fill in my temples, withing a few years I would have receded more and have two horns of hair on my head.

Propecia sucks, I know, but I would strongly consider it before getting a transplant.

Emphatically agree. I don't want to push medication on anyone, but let's be candid here: you don't have a bad head of hair, but at 28, you have hair loss that's far above average. The odds of it magically stopping are virtually nonexistent. A procedure of 1,500 to 2,000 grafts will do great things for you, but if you've been losing for four years and are at this stage... well, you're losing at a decent rate and you could end up being a very unhappy camper by 32 or 33 if you don't stabilize your loss. I say this as someone who has gotten a procedure very similar to what you're contemplating and is now taking dutasteride. I love my new look, but make no mistake: a transplant to the hairline changes your life, because you're permanently susceptible to the threat of loss behind the grafts. One of the few things that looks worse than naturally occurring hair loss is a weird row of hair in front of baldness.

[TheBig30]

Emphatically agree. I don't want to push medication on anyone, but let's be candid here: you don't have a bad head of hair, but at 28, you have hair loss that's far above average. The odds of it magically stopping are virtually nonexistent. A procedure of 1,500 to 2,000 grafts will do great things for you, but if you've been losing for four years and are at this stage... well, you're losing at a decent rate and you could end up being a very unhappy camper by 32 or 33 if you don't stabilize your loss. I say this as someone who has gotten a procedure very similar to what you're contemplating and is now taking dutasteride. I love my new look, but make no mistake: a transplant to the hairline changes your life, because you're permanently susceptible to the threat of loss behind the grafts. One of the few things that looks worse than naturally occurring hair loss is a weird row of hair in front of baldness.

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's not that the idea of Fin is new to me, I've researched it before, but I've just felt in the past like all in all taking the risk was not worth it at such a young age. Now that I am approaching 30 I am open to reconsidering this however. It's never been a case that I wanted to hold on to the hairline of a 22 year old, in fact my boss in work has such a hairline (exceptional gift maybe), but it's strange to see someone 40+ with not even a hint of a mature hairline.

Can you explain the options available to me regarding Fin? As far as I see it they are

1. Official route of buying branded Propecia with prescription (most expensive)
2. Purchase Proscar and quarter it for a more cost effective route?

Taking it now might worry me a bit in the event that I have shedding which will be so close to my HT date (August).

Any advice welcome!

[win200]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's not that the idea of Fin is new to me, I've researched it before, but I've just felt in the past like all in all taking the risk was not worth it at such a young age. Now that I am approaching 30 I am open to reconsidering this however. It's never been a case that I wanted to hold on to the hairline of a 22 year old, in fact my boss in work has such a hairline (exceptional gift maybe), but it's strange to see someone 40+ with not even a hint of a mature hairline.

Can you explain the options available to me regarding Fin? As far as I see it they are

1. Official route of buying branded Propecia with prescription (most expensive)
2. Purchase Proscar and quarter it for a more cost effective route?

Taking it now might worry me a bit in the event that I have shedding which will be so close to my HT date (August).

Any advice welcome!

Those are basically your options, although you can get generic for even cheaper. I've heard lots of anecdotal reports of people getting better results from the branded product, so maybe better to take that. I'd go for the Proscar--roughly 1/3 the price of Propecia.

You could also look at dutasteride, which is a much more potent DHT inhibitor and inhibits 5-alpha reductase types I and II (finasteride only inhibits type II). It's a much, much more potent drug, so carries a great risk of side effects. I'm comfortable with it and haven't had any side effects, but it's your call.

[BigThinker]

If you want to potentially keep what you have and be less likely to bald behind your transplant, get on finasteride.

[greatjob!]

With very few exceptions, if you're not on fin you shouldn't be getting a transplant.

[JimmyJones]

Good luck with the HT. I was 25 (back in 2000) when I had my first HT done with the strip method, Farjo brothers in Manchester UK - it gave me the best 10 years of my life after that, party animal, womaniser, bags of confidence 'living the dream'. I was already notably thinning enough for people to comment on me losing my hair or going thin on top (people are cruel) for a couple of years before that in the 'clown' type balding, plenty round the outskirts but top going fast. My dad bas bald by thirty so I was going the same way. Couldn't wear it short because then i looked 15 years older and if I grew it longer the cursed wind often exposed the baldness in a huge area and then you look like a comb over guy, nightmare. I didn't know much about treatments but I had enough thought balls to it, checked out hair transplants and just went for it after a consultation. After the op took two weeks off hiding out in my house without going anywhere (apart from shop with a hat), hid from the world until all signs of surgery had passed, the transplanted hairs were supposed to fall out but must say I had stubble and they kept growing, it was a great feeling to feel prickly hairs where once was scalp. They did a great job. I changed my job location also at this time and went back to work no one had any idea and as it grew it didn't cross peoples minds that i had been thinning. The Doc suggested FIN and I took it for a while, but the expense in those days that eventually I faded in taking it. Probably a big mistake since now I'm back to where I was or slightly worse than I was back then. Also few years ago when I started to go thin again I noticed my scalp went soft and if I scratched my head clumps of hair just came out under my nails, just real fast shedding. Like the transplanted hairs suddenly just gave up and were rejected after all those years, weird. Seriously, if I'd scratched my scalp for an hour all the hair on top would literally come out, so i was careful. lasted a week or so.
Had another HT by FUE with some Russian doc 2 years ago which failed miserably, I only could afford 500 grafts which should have given 2-2,500 hairs and would have done the trick but sadly, nothing grew - perhaps a handful, I just have a slight tuft where it should have been decently covered.

I plan another HT (will certainly go back to Farjo in Manchester) hopefully within a year or so if I can get money together. Currently using hair fibres which are doing a decent job for now of hiding it and also just started last week with DUT 0.5mg daily from med-cab.com hopefully they are legit and not aspirin.

After the HT the only real advice I can give is look after the transplanted hair with FIN or DUT, whatever you do find the means to keep buying it and hopefully keep the transplanted hair and regular hair as I wish I had done.

I notice some comments on here giving you advice about not having a HT because if you lose the rest then you might look daft with only transplanted hair. I agree, but once you've had one tranplant i think you have to know you are certainly going to require more as the years pass. Once you have one, others will become necessary - you just have to accept that this won't be the only graft you'll ever have - you'll likely need several through the course of your life to ensure you look 'natural', that's a given. Once you are comfortable with that then it doesn't matter if hair goes behind th transplant, have another HT when it's apparent. And if you make it to 50 and you've had all the transplants you can and you are still losing the natural look then I guess you can shave it all off and have 'tattoo hair' done all over the scalp as I've seen some peope have done. 10 more years after that and we might be dead anyway.

[TheBig30]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I have an update to share now:

First of all, my HT is booked - signed, sealed and delivered with Dr. Feriduni in Belgium. I've been following patients of his on here and elsewhere for years and am fully convinced that his artistic approach to giving natural hairline is exactly what I want. I'm not under any impression that I'll have a ruler straight hairline, I want something a little more mature (which is also sexier in my opinion) like say...




After years of research it was a toss up between Dr. Feriduni in Belgium or Dr. Rahal in Canada. I'm happy with my decision and now simultaneously excited and nervous. I go from smiling to wanting to puke with nerves.

In terms of FIN, I consulted Boots (a UK pharmacy) and they have signed off on Propecia for me. I am going to go with the more expensive brand just for the first couple of months, and at least this way I can go back to the pharmacist at any time for advice or consultation with any side effects. After month 1 or 2 I may change over to the generic Fin. My treatment starts on Monday.

I'm considering splitting the Propecia pills in 2 for the first weeks just to let my body adjust. Would anyone recommend this? I feel like just starting one day might increase the risk / severity of any sides? Any advice appreciated!

So that's it....

HT booked with Dr. Feriduni
Propecia on the way
Continuing the ever annoying routine of Regain x 2 Daily
Nizorol every other week

[Hicks]

I cut my proscar into 5ths. Took that 3 times a week for a month. I think in 1.5 months I was taking it daily.

I'm 2 days out of my HT. Messed up by not having food at the house. You get a lot of stares at a grocery store 2 days post OP. Had to wait for night fall not to be seen and drove 25 minutes to another town. Swollen still, I look like sloth from goonies. Great for Halloween.

Maybe bump up nizoral 2-3 times a week?

[TheBig30]

I cut my proscar into 5ths. Took that 3 times a week for a month. I think in 1.5 months I was taking it daily.

I'm 2 days out of my HT. Messed up by not having food at the house. You get a lot of stares at a grocery store 2 days post OP. Had to wait for night fall not to be seen and drove 25 minutes to another town. Swollen still, I look like sloth from goonies. Great for Halloween.

Maybe bump up nizoral 2-3 times a week?

Nice, congrats. Which doctor did you go with?

For me I'll be taking a train home for about 4 hours the day after surgery, then straight to my house for 2 weeks of reclusiveness! It will be online shopping for me Week 2-4 I should still be able to work from home but will likely be losing my mind so will have to go back in to the world!

[Hicks]

Cole, he does great work and I wanted FUE, PRP and Acell.

Nerves didn't hit till 2 days before the surgery.

[TheBig30]

Just thought I'd come back and update this as I'm approaching my HT date in about 6 weeks! Super excited but also nervous - I just wish I could to it today, it's the waiting that's killing me - but such is the peril of choosing Dr. Ferudini whose wait list is at least 6 months. His reputation precedes him it seems.

I've been on Propecia for about 5 months now, I started taking it directly after I started this thread. I'm based in the UK so I went online to Boots.com and you can order it after filling out a questionnaire. I decided to start taking it every other day - at 11pm sharp every other night I take it. I'm not sure I can say it has done much, I don't think I have gains, and I do still lose hair in the shower and when I run my fingers through my hair, but I'll persevere in the hope that even though right now I can't definitively say it's done much, it may be helping me retain / slow down loss.

Re sides - I was VERY nervous starting on Propecia. I won't hide it - I did have sides for the first 2 weeks. To be frank my erection was only about 80% of what it was, I did have a slight decrease in libido and my semen was a bit more watery than usual. BUT it lasted 2 weeks MAX. After 2 weeks I went straight back normal and it's been business as usual since then and now I don't even think about sides. It will be something I'll look out for in the future if I ever move to propecia once a day (or 1/4 procar every day), but for now I'm happy with Propecia. I just got my 3 month supply on Wednesday which will actually be 6 months for me every 2nd day so I'll see how things progress after my HT.

I've also only started using the Rogaine foam at night time, and 2/3 mornings a week. I had to scale back on the foam as I was getting crazy dark circles under my eyes and people were constantly telling me I look exhausted. A quick search online helped me discover it's due to minox, so cutting back helped to reduce those circles under my eyes.

So - my question today is :

Is it worth trying to get a DHT test for your bloods? Just to see what levels they are and if they're a good level with Propecia every other day. Has anyone done this?


PS I'll be doing a blog on my hair loss. I want to pay it forward for others who may be at the stage I was 2 years ago. I'll post that here closer to my HT time.

[TheBig30]

Oops seems I am not allowed post links here - sorry, I was just trying to give Chrisis who is an active member here a shout out for all the help he has give me, both explicit and implicit by sharing his story via a blog

[capitan]

Regarding your worry over taking Propecia, I'd just like to say that I began taking it at 17 and now almost a year later I've had 0 side effects and my hair looks better (definitely have not lost anything at all).